


Sense Memory

by asecretchord



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 04:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3677442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asecretchord/pseuds/asecretchord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everywhere Snape looked were images of what had been</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sense Memory

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Hogwarts365 community.

A flash of red like an Auror's cloak would cause him to whip his head round so quickly it was a wonder he didn't break his neck. A tangle of black hair moving through the well-ordered rows of his cramped shop set his heart pounding. Deep green moss glistening in the morning dew tightened the vice around his heart.

Harry was everywhere: in morning rush outside the Leaky Cauldron as Ministry employees had a quick coffee before heading off to work; in the sound of ringing laughter; in the gentle sigh that followed a kiss goodbye. Every time the bell over the door announced a new visitor, Severus would know a moment of hope, of pure anticipation before reality came crashing down upon him.

He should have known, should have realised that Harry meant what he said. That he was speaking from his heart when he murmured his promises into the dark of night. That it was never Harry saying what he thought Severus would want to hear in the sweet warmth of afterglow. Words like "I can't live without you" and "I'll love you 'til the day I die" weren't sentimental tripe, a sop thrown to him to act as a balm on the wounds that never seemed to heal.

"So much for your promises, Potter," he'd hissed when Harry came home hours late for the fifth night in a row, his hair mussed, his clothing askew, and reeking of sex. "I should never have trusted you. Get out." And Harry had stood frozen in place, his skin bleaching to bone white as the blood drained from his face.

"You can't mean—"

"Out!" And Snape had thrown the thing nearest to hand at Harry's head to emphasis the point, only to discover several days later that Harry had been instrumental in breaking up a sex trafficking ring involving obscene men with obscene amounts of money purchasing children for their 'pleasure'.

Pride forbade Snape from crawling back to Harry to seek his forgiveness and in the months that passed, his despair knew no bounds. Until that day in Diagon Alley when Harry held him close and murmured softly, "I thought that I was over you..."


End file.
